On Tuesday, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that the US crude oil inventories nosedived last week while gasoline stockpiles rose.
In the week ended September 11, crude stockpiles slumped by 9.5 million barrels to 494.6 million barrels. Analysts only estimated a build at 1.3 million barrels.
Crude stock at the Cushing delivery hub in Oklahoma dropped by 798,000 barrels, while refinery crude runs climbed by 641,000 bpd. The country’s crude imports also slipped by 96,000 bpd.
On the contrary, inventories of gasoline jumped by 3.8 million barrels, and analysts only predicted a draw of 160,000 barrels. Distillate fuel stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, went down by 1.1 million barrels, compared to the build of 600,000 barrels expected.
